The last time I met up with Shaunna for a creative retreat was in February 2020.  We met up in Panama City Beach, Florida to spend a few days at her parent’s amazing condo that overlooked the ocean.  We ate charcuterie boards and ordered DoorDash.  We painted, played, talked, took notes, dreamed, asked questions, listened to music, and rested.  It was such a wonderful time and I couldn’t wait to do it again. (You can read more about my past creative retreats HERE.)

Well, we all know what was around the corner in March of that year.  We have talked about doing a creative retreat for years but the timing was always off for one or both of us.  In addition, her parents were weary of repairing the property after the hurricanes (including a contractor who started squatting in the place) and sold their condo.  We would look at the map and discuss places we could go and would even come close to planning something but never nailed down the place and dates.

When I got back from our family vacation at Isle of Palms in March, Shaunna envied my shell haul.  (It was an enviable shell haul despite being the loser in the Shell Collection Contest of 2024.) She loves beach combing just as much as I do and I impulsively suggested we should meet there.  As we often do, we looked it up on the map to see how long of a drive it would be for each of us.  It’s a little closer to Alabama than Maryland, but it’s a pretty good spot to meet up and it helps that I am already familiar with the area.  It’s also a reasonable drive for both of us (I’ll crash with my inlaws in Raleigh, NC to break up my part of the trip), so we don’t have to worry about paying for flights and arranging transportation.

I initially thought we would plan it for September or October.  I mean, I was just there.  But, Shaunna suggested we do it sooner.  Like, in a few weeks.  I was hesitant to schedule a trip so soon, but I floated the idea to Jeff to see if it would be okay with the family calendar and his work schedule and he encouraged me to take the time.  It’s been so long since I’ve been on a creative retreat and he knows how valuable they are for me.  With giddy excitement, we nailed down the trip and we’re meeting up in Isle of Palms next week.

Our family has always rented a large house, but those are very expensive if you don’t split them with several people and it would be way too much space for just the two of us.  We were going to stay in an inn on the island, but Shaunna was able to sleuth out a two-bedroom condo with a balcony overlooking the ocean as well as amenities like beach access, a washer & dryer, and a community pool.  It’ll be nice to have a living room and porch to work in instead of just being in one hotel room and it ended up costing just a small amount more, especially when divided between the two of us.

I’ve tried to have creative retreats at home (remember my attempted stay-treat in January), but there are too many distractions and I miss the magic of being in a new place.  I have also found it’s more fruitful to do a creative retreat with someone else and Shaunna is my top pick.  We spend time talking about collaborations, but we also spend intensive time reviewing our own businesses and creative work.  We’ve been friends for over a decade, so we know each other and our work well enough to be able to give and receive valuable feedback, critique, and advice.  We also have some independent time to think, write, read, walk on the beach, sketch, or even just sit in a low beach chair positioned in a tidal pool and watch the world.

I have already started taking notes on things I want to discuss with Shaunna or think about when I’m there.  I’ve compiled a few books to read and listen to on the drive to make the most of my time. Since I’m driving down, I also might hit a few antique shops on the way just to see what I can find.

And yes, shells will be involved.  I’ve already checked the tides so we can hit the beach during peak shelling times.  Even though I came home with tons of shells in March, I’m still looking forward to finding more!  I’ve put them all over the house and garden and I’ve enjoyed admiring them so much.  Of course, I’ll share what we’re up to!

Speaking of Shaunna, we finally released a new TCe podcast episode!  We went from recording regularly to recording sort of whenever it suits us.  We’d like to be more regular about it since we enjoy it and our loyal listeners ask about it but, as I recently shared, there are only 24 hours in a day.  In this episode, we talked about deep vs. shallow work and how that ties into creative work in this age of the split-second scroll.

You can listen to the episode HERE or wherever you like to listen to podcasts.